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  1. Hi everyone I was on Paxil 20mg for 19 years- most of which time it worked well (except for some weight gain and bloating). While studying at grad school I started taking Adderall for four years until it developed until a problem and managed to come off it inn July 2017. Went through the PAWs from that which lasted for a long time (and is maybe still ongoing). However, since I came off the Adderall, the Paxil appeared to have stopped working (either than or the PAWs from the Adderall was overriding its effects). So 5 months ago I decided to do the Prozac bridge to see if Prozac would work for me. I did a straight switch to Prozac 20 mg without any tapering and felt some withdrawals and also felt weird most likely from starting on the Prozac as well. While taking Prozac I have been up and down, with good weeks and bad. However, in the last two weeks I have had what seem suspiciously like the 'waves' I hear about on this site. I have felt the worst I have ever felt in my life and it seems very much like SSRI withdrawal to me (I've experienced withdrawals from Paxil several times before when I either ran out or tried to quit). This time symptoms include a sense of impending doom, nausea, tinnitus, hypersensitivity to stress, depression. It seems unusual to be suddenly hit with withdrawal symptoms 5 months after giving up Paxil and while still taking Prozac right? So my question is- is this some delayed withdrawal to the Paxil I stopped taking 5 months ago or is it some adverse reaction to the Prozac (even though I have had periods of feeling fine on it). I am leaning towards to the possibility of coming off the Prozac and reinstating the Paxil. Even though I was feeling pretty depressed when I was on Paxil last I didn't feel like this now where I basically feel like I'm losing my mind. Any recommendations on what I should do?
  2. hello. I would like some advice about my case. In 2021 I started my journey on antidepressants with paxil 12.5mg for anxiety and the adaptation was very smooth and I got along really well with the medication. My anxiety symptoms have practically disappeared. In December 2022 I weaned as I no longer had any symptoms. However, in March 2023 my anxiety returned very strongly to the point where I couldn't even eat properly and the psychiatrist said to go back on paxil 12.5mg. It turns out that the adaptation was horrible and had a lot of side effects, but after about 2 and a half months the side effects stopped but I didn't feel a big improvement in anxiety or OCD. The psychiatrist asked to increase the dosage to 25mg, but unfortunately the amount was too expensive for me as I am unemployed and so I asked her to switch to another medication and she prescribed fluoxetine 20mg. After about 4 months with paxil 12.5mg I weaned and felt good for about 6 months with some ups and downs. Anyway, the anxious symptoms started to return with force again and I started taking fluoxetine, but I'm experiencing a lot of side effects, especially on appetite and anxiety. Do you think it is safe to continue taking it? I'm afraid I messed up my brain or something.
  3. Sorry that this is really long and rambley. I have a lot to unpack... Hello, I am a 17-year-old male teenager and I've been on antidepressants since I was 12. I remember when me and my class went on a few days long school trip at the end of my last year of elementary school and I felt sad the entire time. Back then even I wasn't really sure where it came from, but I attributed my feelings to homesickness, as I had never been on that kind of trip before. But even when I came back home, that sadness didn't disappear. That was probably when I first noticed that something was "wrong". The sadness and sense that something was horribly wrong would persist for my entire summer break. But I ignored all of it and insisted to myself that everything would be back to normal once I started middle school. These feelings of melancholy weren't abnormal for me during long summer breaks, and it would all disappear once school started again. Surely once school started , I would become happy again right? Wrong. The first day of school I was filled with a bunch of overwhelming emotions I couldn't process. The second day my mind burst and I was left sobbing in the shower. The next few months would be an excruciating hell filled with frequent crying spells, anhedonia, and just general awfulness. My feelings were completely out of control. Sometimes I would feel happy, sometimes I would feel absolutely miserable. The whole time I was agonizing over what could've possibly been causing all this. I told my doctor that I thought my feelings were due to puberty. He dismissed it. He suggested it was due to the singulaire I've been taking, but that ended up not being the case either (I guess it could be, but why would it start being a problem now when I've been taking singulaire my whole life? I abandoned this train of thought long ago) My depression continued even after I stopped taking singulair. The uncertainty over what caused my depression just made it worse. And just when I thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, it all culminated into one random really bad day, when all of a sudden I lost my sense of self and my sense of reality. I was in the school nurse's office awakwardly explaining to the lady what was going on in my mind (or lack thereof) like an idiot. Then I was face up on a bed in that office emptily wondering if I had gone mad. Then I was at home in bed. All that time wondering, "How did I get here?" Nothing felt real. My sense of "self" returned, only to allow me to experience the most tortorous time in my life. I was panicking and crying like crazy for days, all over delusions of solipsism and the feeling that I was secretly living in a TV show my whole life without me knowing until recently. My vision was filled with static. I looked online, it was called visual snow. Everything looked far away, sounded far away, felt far away. Living with these symptoms for years have caused me to grow used to it, but back then I couldn't handle it. I was so done with everything, I just wanted to give up. I remember one day my mom asked me if I wanted to go to a buddhist temple to pray. It was so out of nowhere and I would've normally declined. But I had nothing better to do, everything was pointless, so I went anyway. I started taking antidepressants when I would've refused to before. I remember taking my first pill of lexapro, immediately feeling sleepy, then passing out and having the most vivid lucid dream I've ever had and probably will ever have. Then after a day, I would feel absolute euphoria for the next few weeks. It was so surprising! But then that euphoria would disappear to be replaced by mundane nothingness. I complained at first, but eventually I would grow to accept that feeling nothing was better than feeling miserable. Still, I never figured out where that initial burst of happiness came from. My best bet was divine intervention, that by praying in front of a Buddhist statue had obtained me a blessing from some higher being. It was ridiculous, but I had nothing else. All these years later and I haven't figured out what caused my depression either. Was it the emotional gut punch from the sudden realization that life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows like naive little kid me thought? Was it the intense pressure of entering adolescence and starting middle school? Was it due to puberty, like what I initially thought, all those years ago? The last one was unlikely. I think about it a lot, what could've possibly caused all this?Oftentimes I've been satisfied with my rationalizations. But ultimately, I still don't know. Fast forward to October of 2023 and I've made the decision to taper (again). I told my psychiatrist that I wanted to go off slowly, much more slowly than last time. But I made one crucial mistake. I forgot to request liquid medication. I wanted to wait until my next appointment to get my liquids before I begin tapering, but my mom forced me to decrease by 10mg monthly with the physical pills. By the time my next appointment rolled around, my 80mg of Prozac had decreased to 60mg. I finally got my liquid medication, but ultimately decided to pause tapering to exhaust all of the physical pills from my previous prescription before continuing a 10% taper with the liquid. Everything was fine, at least at first. This January, I read a visual novel Umineko: When They Cry. It was absolutely life-changing, hands-down the best fiction ever. One character in particular really resonated with me, with their struggles with gender dysphoria. I am nonbinary, but I haven't had any desire to change my body in any way or become more feminine. I found it strange how attached I've grown to this character, but I figured it was just that Umineko magic. But the more I obsessed and cried and the more that my feelings became disconnected from what I thought was the "source", the more that I, once again, felt that something was horribly wrong. It began in February, two months after my previous dose reducing, and it's continued until now. My mood is out of control. Feelings of depression come and go. I want to believe it's all withdrawal. But what scares me is that it feels exactly like my initial depression five years ago. I would be comfortable dismissing it all as due to withdrawal if it all came out of nowhere. But that's the thing, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it feels like there's something weird happening in my brain, weird emotions, but with no thoughts. But other times I spiral and there are thoughts attached to those emotions. Thoughts about how I hate my body, my body hair, my fat, how I wish I had boobs. Just intense gender dysphoria out of nowhere! I've questioned if I'm a trans girl before but never so desperately. I can't describe it all that well unless I'm experiencing it in the moment. I'll probably come back here again to post while I'm spiraling. When I'm in a calmer state, like now, it makes me feel really stupid, like I'm worrying over nothing. But I know it does happen, and it'll most likely happen again sometime in the near future. But why? Could gender dysphoria be a symptom of withdrawal? I don't think that's how that works, right? Could I have been repressing it for a long time? But how? I think back to all those years ago, when I told my doctor about my symptoms, said that I thought it was due to puberty, only for him to dismiss my conjecture. Could 12-year-old me back then have been right all along? What if the hormones from puberty gave me dysphoria, which I couldn't process or express at the time because I had no idea about what being trans is, then antidepressants caused me to bury and repress that dysphoria, only for it to resurface and relapse once I'm slowly getting off them? Is this theory too crazy to be true? Am I too desperate too make things make sense? I'm not sure how "connected" this dysphoria is to my actual emotions, so maybe I'm just deceiving myself. I don't know, I keep switching back and forth between withdrawal and relapse. It's so confusing. I feel like an idiot now because I'm in a calm state. But once I spiral the uncertainty becomes unbearable, so I really need to figure this out.
  4. My story is as follows: since 2012 I was living in constant stress and had huge business and responsibilities. I started to treat my stress by drinking wine. Then I decided to quit meat, and developed anemia. Since my body was weak, I had UTI and various inflammations in kidneys and gut. I was prescribed with antibiotics for 8 months; they totally destroyed my microbiome. Occasionally I was feeling sad from time to time, and at such moments was drinking wine. I know why I started feeling sad, as I was using wine as my coping mechanism to deal with stress, and wine is a big depressant and destroys your microbiome. On 2021 I started having anxiety. I was prescribed with antipsychotic Fluanxol and diagnosed with anxiety disorder and depression. After 3 days anxiety was gone. But after 3month I developed depersonalization and feeling strange like depressed and my doctor said that depression is getting worse and I need SNRI- Cymbalta( duloxetine). I became suicidal and total zombie. After 1,5month she told me to CT, and prescribed Cipralex I developed: anxiety extreme one, vomiting, diarrhea, zombie feeling. After 1,5 month she told me to CT, then I was prescribed valdoxan it did nothing to me. Then I was prescribed mirtazapine, since all the polydruging I developed real depression and anhedonia. On the top they prescribed be Prozac. On Prozac I was getting slightly better, they upped the dose after one year to 60mg and felt even better but anhedonia and dysphoria were never gone. Now I am tapering mirtazapine since 2023 April, so since April from 45mg to 15mg reached now already. All was good for 2 months( November, December) even anhedonia was gone, but I was not tapering it as I was In Bali. Now when I started tapering again in December, withdrawals started to affect me on 27 January, 3 days bad 4 days good, again 4 days bad 10 days good, now when I reached 15mg I started having panic attacks. Does it sound for you like I have bipolar? I went to new psychiatrist today as I was feeling very scared of panic attacks and he said all these med did not help you initially as you are BIPOLAR. So now he wants me to prescribe 0lanzapine for 2 months meanwhile to CT mirtazapine and Fluanxol. And then after 2 months to stop olanzapine and Prozac and start lamotrigine. I am going insane, crying nonstop. Can I be Bipolar? Or is it that withdrawals mimic some other illnesses. I don’t feel that I was bipolar before meds I was just sad- and reason was too much wine. Anxiety was as a side effect of antibiotics in 2021. Please help going insane. Also what to do I reduced mirtazapine 10% every 3 weeks, now 2 weeks past the last reduction and I am having panic attacks every day and anxiety, depersonalization. Should I wait or should I up dose? Should I slow down with my taper and do 10% every 4-6 weeks? Please help
  5. Hi all, First off I am grateful for this forum, thank you for letting me join. My journey began with trying to address some confusing health issues that put an end to a career that I dearly loved. Anxiety and overwhelm with my situation took over and it was recommended by my therapist that I try an antidepressant. Since my father took escitalopram without issue (going on or off) I decided to try it. My mother and I are sensitive to medication and I was very, very resistant to going on an antidepressant. My GP prescribed 10 mg of escitalopram and hydroxzine for sleep. At this point I had been taking 50 mg of Trazodone for sleep. The first weekend of taking those meds changed everything. After the first dose I woke up dizzy and disoriented, nearly falling out of bed. The derealization and confusion from that was incredible. The panic and anxiety intense. After that weekend I stopped the hydroxyzine I asked to step down to 5 mg and did that for a month, eventually going to 7.5 because I was told that my body would adjust (under my doctors direction by alternate taking 5 and 10 mg every other to reach 7.5mg). By the fourth month at 10 mg I was having severe waves of body agitation followed by waves of peaceful calm, extreme eye strain, evening concussive headaches, sweating, fluctuating eye sight, trembling, contstipation, and derealization. The waves of body agitation were the worse but at least at that time I could lay down, ride it out and have moments of peaceful calm. I was told by my psychiatrist that most of my symptoms couldn’t be from the meds and had more with my aversion to taking it. After seeing several specialist and testing it was determined that I have acquired spontaneous nystagmus and an inner ear caused balance. Based off of my timeline of symptoms the balance issue thought to be most likely caused by long covid. At four months on escitalopram I tapered down over 2 weeks from 10 to 5 to 0 mg. Reviewing information on this site I realize now that may have been too fast. However, a lot of my symptoms did improve until I started vestibular therapy where they suggested that an ssri has sometimes been found to be beneficial. So, after 1 month of being off of escitalopram I started fluoxetine at 10 mg. Trembling started again with more headaches and brain fog. After two months of fluoxetine I’d had enough and was told that I could go off it cold turkey because it was “self tapering”. I have been off of fluoxetine for a month and was told that it would be out of my system at that point. Still I’m left with feet tingling, headaches and a constant feeling of derealization with brain fog, headaches, concentration issues and unsteadiness. Now true to form my physiatrist wants to try other things like Viibryd, Lamictal or Gabapentin. I can’t see getting hooked on benzo’s or going back on another psych med unless it’s going to be able to address my other issues. Of course nobody except my audiologist wants to go down the long covid route. Looking at past immediate AD reaction post it appears to me that I may in fact have had an adverse reaction to escitalopram and may have deregulated my nervous system further starting fluoxetine? Admittedly I am anxiety ridden over my situation regarding my nystagmus, inner ear balance (long Covid) issues but the brain fog derealization is the worst of it. I feel I may have made things worse by switching around with the meds, the way I took them and went off of them. I am being told that I wasn’t on the meds long enough or at a high enough dose to cause lingering withdrawal symptoms. I’m now basically bed ridden, unable to work or drive. I have looked through the supplements recommendations and started fish oil. I have taken vitamin C and D and a probiotic for ever. Thanks for being here and any insight that you can give me
  6. I have been on fluxotine for around 11 years of my life with a short break at some point. I started at age 13. The first time I went off I was very moddy so went back on. About three months ago I took my last tapered dose of fluxotine. I have been struggling with insomnia so my doctor put me on setraline. I am on. my second night is taking it but wondered if J should have held out longer if this is only withdrawal affects. At least some of my insomnia seems to be anxiety related but I don’t think all of it is. Any tips?! Should I stop setraline before I have to deal with its withdrawals?! thank you!
  7. Hey everyone, I’m new here. Thanks for having me. I recently tapered from 5mg proz over about 3 months (liquid taper). I was originally on 20mg but tappered down and had held the proz at 5mg for 6 months while I did very gradual water taper off k (benzo). Over the last month (been of proz 2 weeks) I have started having fasciculations. They started in my feet, now my calves, legs, ankles. Worse then not doing anything, but there all the time. I’m really scared about something sinister. Could this be withdrawal? I was on such a low dose of proz? Thank you, Annie
  8. Hello, I have taken many months to taper off what i consider this evil drug. I have been off it now for approx 2 weeks but i am still experiencing "Brain Zaps". I am very tired. have memory worries, very itchy, sore in corner of mouth and a lot of "aches and pains" and more. how long does it take to feel relief from it all? I have been on other anti depressants for about 40yrs and i am wondering if my body will be unable to function without them T
  9. Unsure if I'm posting in the right place but this is somewhat of an introduction. 1.5 years ago I started on 20mg of Prozac for OCD. There was restlessness with starting but it went away. Gradually I tapered down to 10mg of Prozac which I was on for a full year. 2 months ago, I felt the sudden onset of a a very severely agitated feeling. It was very vague but I can pinpoint the exact moment I noticed it -- I was sitting, doing nothing remarkable, and unstressed. I had felt something like this before throughout my treatment but it was very very temporary and felt more like an agitated depression brought on by external circumstances. When this feeling started I could not pinpoint anything else as the cause. Things were good in all parts of my life. I had not messed with the dosage of Prozac at all for a year. Is it still possible that the Prozac is causing this long term agitation/akathisia that I still experience today? A month into the feeling I decided to taper off Prozac completely. I experienced very little withdrawal...just mild headaches and dizziness. The akathisia didn't get worse or better. But it is still quite bad. And the longer it continues the more hopeless I become and probably the more depressed as well because I can't see a life without this agitation anymore. Started on some Klonopin to treat the restlessness and help me sleep. Has anyone else experienced akathisia without a dose change? And also only being on a low dose?
  10. hello, my name is Emmanuel, and i live in france and i'm 44 years old. I started taking effewor 75 mg in 2005 until June 2008. following an anxious state after a separation. I stopped dead with the droid turkey in 2008 and after 2 weeks, I had no more symptoms. In September 2009, after having a new job in May, I decided to start again for the stimulating effects and because I could smoke more weed without getting high. the drug also calmed me for my impulsiveness and increased my concentration. From 2009 to 2018, the drug always had the same effect on me. Things got complicated suddenly: even taking my medication at the same time (8 am), same dose every day, I began to have withdrawal symptoms which appeared around 12 am. I was tired, I had no use of concentration, I slept a lot, I had brain zap, I did not understand what was happening to me. I thought like the doctors told me that I could take this all my life. I believed him. after a few months, seeing that it did not change, I wanted to try a switch by going to fluoxetine. I thought it was just the medicine that stopped working and that if I changed it would work again. I did a 1 month switc, and everything went perfectly but I had to go up to 25 mg of fluoxetine. I didn't want to increase more. 1 year ago, my father died before my eyes. I was shocked and had to switch to 30 mg of fluoxetine. but today I have extremely difficult side effects: headaches, fatigue, insomnia, involuntary movements (not all the time, but they are little jerks) in my hands and feet, difficulty not moving my legs when I'm sitting down, bad taste in my mouth and the feeling of being weaned again: in August I wanted to try cold turkey for a few days, "to see" For 10 days it went well and then I started having big panic attacks at work and the ordeal began: even when I resumed my normal dose, I didn't feel like before. On October 7, I broke a finger at work, I said to myself "you are going to switch to escitalopram" and as prozac has a very long half-life, I stopped dead again and started to increase escitalopram gradually to reach at 15mg. After 4 weeks I started having suicidal thoughts, I cried all the time, I thought my life was screwed up even though I have a good job, I have a beautiful wife who loves and supports me and financially, everything is fine. No explanation for his suicidal thoughts. After 6 weeks, I was exhausted, I was thinking about how I was going to end it. I have never had suicidal thoughts in my entire life, I have always been a joyful, empathetic person who loves life. So I went to see a psychiatrist (for the first time) and who told me that apart from sleep apnea, or that I'm bipolar, it's impossible that fluoxetine no longer had an effect on me and that if I had to increase effexor, it was because I was relapsing. out, when i stopped effexor, everything was going great in my life. He told me that for escitalopram, it was rare but that it "could happen, suicidal thoughts. work in mental health and I had already read an article on tardive dysphoria by el mallakh and Giovanni Fava, explaining the phenomenon of oppositional rolerance of the brain by desensitizing serotonergic receptors. I knew that psychiatrist was lying. for 8 weeks, I am again under fluoxetine 30 mg. I'm not bad, but I'm not well either, I don't have suicidal thoughts anymore. But I still have the side effects of prozac (headache, insomnia, electric shock, fatigue, my eyelids are half open, involuntary movements, restless legs). I searched for answers and found the surviving antidepressant site. I need your opinion: what do you think is happening to me? My body is used to its drugs and I go into resistance? is it possible that my body is rejecting anti depressants? I lose my vitality, my energy and my desire, I feel like I no longer feel anything. The stop haunts me. but when I read the testimonials, I am afraid of the paws. Do a gradual decrease? My body is already in tolerance and I already have withdrawal symptoms. I am already losing my concentration and my memory. I do not know what to do. I'm afraid of losing my wife, my family and my job if I quit. I think it will take at least a year. I want to stop in the hospital since I had suicidal thoughts 2 months ago. Yet I've never been like that, what's happening to me? I really need help. Thanks for reading me.
  11. ( mod note, mmt) Ewa's Introduction topic is here: Ewa;Cymbalta 60 mg coldturkey My name is Ewa, I’m 49 years young and I have recovered from the voyage to hell that was initiated by cold turkey from 20 years of antidepressants use. In the title SHE is my daughter (now 12 years old) my first and main reason to stay here, second is my husband Eric who was my caregiver and was there for me unwaveringly, third information about withdrawal from this website (was my first website I found when looking for answers) and others like it, success stories of people who came through victorious, and relentless search for truth. On February 2018 I cold turkey from 60mg of Cymbalta (December 2017 I turned 44 years old) almost instantly I was in altered state of consciousness (in medical community labeled as mania, I dislike their terminology but I will use it here in parenthesis) had out of body experiences and visions (not hallucinations) one of them was my mothers trauma I didn’t know about. I was in trans like state very euphoric, didn’t need much sleep, had diarrhea for about one month, metallic taste in my mouth, could not eat meat and other foods. I was functioning but in different way. Gradually I was coming down from euphoria, it took 8 months and one day it was clear to me that I was very much different in past months (I had that awareness during but was not afraid of it) also I started to feel internal vibration that I thought was anxiety (never had anxiety before in my life). In the end of August 2018 I went back on 60 mg Cymbalta plus 0.5 mg Ativan (first time in my life I was put on benzodiazepine), two weeks into being back on drugs I became suicidal. Every two months I was in hospital changed the antidepressant Ativan stayed the same 0.5 mg twice a day or as needed. My condition was worsening and in January 2019 I did ketamine which put me further down the hell. By this time my diagnosis changed from depression (my original sign 😉) to treatment resistant depression, all they have left for me was ECT, I had 8 sessions in total and after last one as I was walking out of hospital (for my last two sessions I was outpatient, for so called maintenance sessions) I heard just a whisper of my own soul “Ewa you have to find your own way out of here, if you stay,there will be no coming back”, by this time I was a shell of my former self, a mare shadow of a human being, that upon waking from last ECT had to guess what year it was, I was successful in this but the president of USA in 2019 was still Obama.As soon as I got home I went on internet and found this website, my search for my own way out of hell has begun. At that time I was on Zoloft and Ativan, I decided to cold turkey again (two months taper) and in May 2019 my drug free life has begun. The level of suffering has intensified greatly and stayed the same for two years. I did not have windows not even one. I had severe insomnia, slept 2 or 3 or 0 hours, anhedonia, depersonalization, déréalisation, intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideation and urges, memory loss, cognition loss, complete loss of appetite, my GI was twisting and burning, I forced myself to eat and it was two bites at the time, I didn’t shower for weeks only when I was on my period (I never lost my menstruations still have it now), all consuming terror was always there, didn’t brush my teeth (had to have 3 crowns last year), I had light sensitivity sunny days in summer where extra torture, sounds sensitivity (I love music but in that state was torture), my whole body was stiff like I was log of wood very hard wood. Adrenaline rushes like toxic waves through my body, Agoraphobia ( was mostly bad bound), apathy, confusion, crying it was more wailing like a caged animal I became. Inner trembling, lethargy, complete loss of libido, during my very short sleep I manage to have nightmares. Tinnitus was not severe and it went away after about one year. January 3 2020 I wrote this “All I want is to be able to be a mother and wife again ! I love Chloe and Eric so much” at that time I had all the symptoms I listed above. Also I have to add that during my altered state of consciousness (mania) April 2018 I had breast lift surgery(it was scheduled in 2017), day after walking up the stairs I heard myself saying “it is not normal to cut healthy body” , this procedure so accepted and even praised by our sick society is a band aid in form of self mutation to secure love and approval of others behind which is a very deep pain. I had infection and was put on very strong antibiotics, further destroying my got. (I have to go to my appointment now second part of my root canal treatment, I will continue later on today, I will submit this now because I don’t know how to save this and don’t want to loose it 😊) Thank you to my father Jan whom I love deeply, it was from his life journey and strength I drew inspiration to go on.
  12. Prince1924

    Prince1924: Prozac

    I have just read this advice about keeping a withdrawal programme Simple ie 3KIS. Not sure but there doesn't seem to be a support network like this in the UK? Only one I've come across is the Royal College of psychiatrists which is a in the form of a video). I've taken great comfort from all this advice as I makes me feel I can try and come off Prozac one more time.
  13. Hi, I was on .5 Mg 1x day of Klonopin for 28 years, my GP updoses it to 3 x day....terrible pyridoxal reaction, Dr. added 10 Mg Prozac which helped the terrible reaction. Did a 2 year taper off Klonopin. 6 Months after being off I started a 5 - 6 month taper off the Prozac. Been off Klonopin 15 months; Off Prozac little over 4 months. Having terrible monophobia (which I kinda had over these last 28 years), huge terror, obsessive thoughts, ruminating thoughts, extreme anger / rage, insomnia. I called both my dr. and therapist crying today. Dr. wants me to re-instate the Prozac. Is this still benzo withdrawal or Prozac wd ??? I am SO scared of meds.....I wonder if this is me or meds ???
  14. Hi, I have been struggling with hearing sensitivity and eye issues ever since I made the mistake of listening to my neurologist and trying Effexor, and then upon recommendation of a psychiatrist, Prozac. Both were for short time periods. I am a little more than 4 months out of my last prozac dose. Ears/Hearing: hypersensitive to certain sounds - sudden sounds, sharp impact sounds, crinkling plastic wrappers etc. High pitched tinnitus that is generally not too instrusive and can be better or worse but always there. No hearing loss as of post-Effexor, pre-prozac. Eyes: “tight” feeling that is somewhat better than a few months ago but still not normal. I probably have some visual snow, and my night vision is worse because it’s like my eyes are amplifying light that’s not even there. Constantly bloodshot and dry eyes - taking restasis but opthamologist didn’t see any other eye issues. Balance: generally ok but occasional unsteadiness. Other: Mild constipation: gastroenterologist didn’t see anything wrong. Some TMJ pain and minor random muscle twitches. Occasional facial tremors that are better than a few months ago but not gone. Frequent trouble sleeping- falling asleep, getting enough sleep or deep sleep. Basically I believe that these drugs hypersensitized me. I sincerely hope that this hypersensitivity will decrease over time. I have seen some improvement vs say 2 months ago, but I have a long way to go. I have read on this site that it can take a long time for the nervous system to calm down. I believe that I am generally improved on magnitude of sensitivity vs say 2 months ago, but I am clearly not on a “some people take as much as a month to recover” timeframe.
  15. Hello all, I have been reading this site for awhile but recently decided to join. Please forgive me for any misspellings or anything poorly written as my brain is not what it once was as a result of these drugs. Even finding the motivation to write this post took me multiple days. My parents were very pro-medication at a young age, I developed OCD around age 10 and took Zoloft for approximately 2 years as I was told I needed it to get better. I was also on Ritalin from age 5-13. I went through most of high school and college unmedicated, until the end of college around age 21 deciding to seek out adderall again as my grades were starting to take a hit. I also had a breakup at the time and a doctor put me on 40mg fluoxetine (prozac). I wasn't even that sad but he said it would help take the edge off. I didn't think twice about this drug after taking it, and somehow ended up taking it for the following 10 years. Fast forward to age 31 (about 1.5 years ago) Things were going incredibly well in my life, recently married, job going well, driven and enjoying life, and I looked at my pill one day and thought, Why am I still taking this? I learned about the long half life of this drug and since I was told 10mg was the lowest dose, I asked my doc to change to 10mg which he did without a real question. I went from 40 to 20 to 10 in about a month, and then started taking the 10 every other day, every third day, every 4 days, and so on, until I got to one pill every two weeks. Since this was the minimum dose, I figured this was the most drawn out "taper" possible. I took my last pill somewhere around October of 2022 and oddly enough, the 2-3 weeks that followed were incredible. Life was brighter than it had ever been, I was happy and motivated to take my life to even another level i had not yet experienced. About one month off the drug, I started to notice some very strange effects. My body and mind did not feel right. I had extreme mood swings and fatigue, complete loss of libido that has never returned, and other symptoms. I got my testosterone tested and it was very low, in the first percentile for my age. Health is my biggest passion and I had done nothing to cause this, I had continued my extremely healthy eating, active lifestyle, great sleep etc so I found this very odd. I eventually went back on the drug for approximately 1.5 months to see if it helped with my issues and libido (and I had genital numbness), but it didn't seem to make any meaningful difference (I also dont think I tried it long enough) so I did the same "taper" again around Feb of 2023. Looking back my taper was probably more of a cold turkey than a taper, given my last dose was still a full dose (10mg). My testosterone level started to improve, but not without a ton of other symptoms coming and going over time. Whole body pains, cognitive issues, weird mental issues like extreme difficulty making decisions among other things. This has been an ever evolving range of symptoms, with some things sticking around changing in severity and others coming and going. My current symptoms which have been around for quite some time are an extreme lack of motivation and a strong sense of apathy. This is also accompanied by severe anhedonia. Every simple task has become difficult, and I often feel like I am stuck in the mud with the way I interact with the world in my new state. I struggle to work my job in whhich I have been a high performer for many years, and I require a lot of daily assistance from my wife and father. I feel like a burden on those around me, I am no longer the same person and I keep desperately searching and trying to find that person again. I have considered a reinstatement, but do not want to slow down my recovery - but at this point I am getting kind of desperate for some relief. It is hard to say if I have experienced any real windows, but I guess things are changing, even if not for the better, which signals something is going on in my body. I continue to care for my body in every way imaginable from a great diet, sleep, exercise. However I am sure there are other things I could be focusing on to heal more quickly. Open to any and all suggestions or advice. Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this.
  16. Hello everyone, I'm urgently seeking advice on my current situation, which is scary, unfortunate, and a complete mess. I'm a 30 year old female who has been on-and-off fluoxetine (20-40 mg) for depression and anxiety over the past 13 years. Due to personal instability, I was constantly moving around and seeing new providers. A cycle began where I would discontinue and within 4-6 months be put back on the drug due to a "recurrent episode." I now believe that these recurrent episodes were in fact withdrawal symptoms. I knew nothing about the long-term effects of the drug, and how these periods of discontinuation and reinstatement were priming me for hypersensitivity. The last time I discontinued the drug (fluoxetine 20mg), I noticed within 2 months that I could no longer tolerate, even at a very small dose, another drug that I had previously tolerated (spironolactone). That was the first sign that something was amiss. 4 months after discontinuing, due to severe distress and anguish, I decided to go back on fluoxetine. I started 10 mg fluoxetine for 12 days. I had some headaches, which was typical for me, but I also noticed some other physical side effects - like dizziness and just "feeling off" - which I thought was odd. I wasn't sure what was causing it, so I ceased the fluoxetine. 2.5 weeks after stopping, the physical side effects abated, and I was back to feeling normal. Then, 3 weeks after stopping, I had a huge emotional breakdown -- screaming, crying, urges to self-harm. I decided that I needed to re-start the drug immediately. I began taking the 10 mg fluoxetine again, and started having intense side effects from it that I had never had before. I didn't realize it at the time, but this was kindling. I figured I would stabilize on that dose, so I continued. While some of my side effects partially stabilized, I was still having issues, when all of a sudden a new side effect emerged at 3.5 weeks -- what appeared to be neurogenic bladder. I went to a doctor and they told me I needed to stop taking fluoxetine. With one skipped dose, the issue immediately resolved. I then went through an absolutely hellish 25 day withdrawal unlike anything I have ever experienced. The headaches and neck pain were so severe, and the insomnia so intense, that out of desperation I tried to re-instate at a low dose - approx. 2.5 mg one day, and 1.25 mg the next. This didn't seem to help, but make things worse, so I stopped. However, I'm now 4 days past the botched re-instatement, and I can tell it has had some improvement. The headaches have stopped, but now I am in almost a hypo-manic, jittery state from the increased dose. I'm at a loss as to what the next step should be, and my current provider is no help. Now that I've come to this website, I've realized all the errors I have made. I believe I have basically kindled twice, and I can tell that I have become extremely hyper-sensitive to the drug. At this point, is my nervous system so shot that I need to just give up on the fluoxetine and try to survive the second withdrawal? The only other option I can think of is to try to stabilize on a lower dose -- try taking 0.1 mg? 0.5 mg? -- but I'm not sure if that's feasible given my sensitivity and fluoxetine's long half-life, which will make the levels fluctuate in my blood for awhile before becoming consistent. I'm very scared, and none of the doctors or psychiatrists I've talked to understand what has happened. I'm honestly afraid that I might have a seizure and not survive this.
  17. Posting on behalf of my partner who I am caring for through withdrawal and tapering. He is not in a good place to be on the internet much currently but we have questions and still need support, so I am posting for him (hope that's okay). Anytime I say "we", I am referring to my partner and I as we've discussed and strategized together. Longer-form version of his drug history: 2008-2012: Fluoxetine for 4 years during high school Doesn't remember exact dose but likely 10mg Had a really easy time discontinuing in 2012 when he wanted to stop taking it. Doesn't remember if he stopped cold turkey or did any kind of taper at the time 2016: Fluoxetine 20mg for a few months, around age 21 Remember it being easy to start without bad symptoms from updosing Was experiencing sexual side effects and stopped cold turkey Remembers it being "medium" difficult to stop. Mostly some increased depression for a period after stopping, but nothing close to what he is going through right now with citalopram 2018-2020: Began citalopram 20mg for depression and anxiety after difficult life events. Wanted to avoid fluoxetine due to sexual side effects Severe depression as side effect from updosing when originally starting. Remembers it being about a month of the worst depression he had ever felt up to that point, worse than the depression that led him to take it in the first place. Then was at 20mg for a few years after stabilizing Jan - Mar 2020: Was feeling happy, wanted to discontinue citalopram. Psychiatrist said the 20mg dose was so low that he could just stop cold turkey, but that he could do a few cut and holds if he wanted to be extra cautious. After cutting to 15mg, was feeling agitated for months Mar 2020 - Jul 2023: Decided to reinstate the 20mg citalopram and micro-taper Got liquid form of citalopram and tapered from 20mg -> 5mg over a few years, with some holds along the way Mar 2023: Began feeling regularly agitated. This was around the time of an injury and some other difficult life circumstances that challenged his mental health routine, so he thought maybe he needed a higher dose. Bumped up to citalopram 7mg all at once Jul 2023: Was still feeling regularly agitated. (In retrospect, we're pretty confident the agitation beginning in mar 2023 was poop-out) Bumped up to citalopram 10mg all at once This bump up was severely destabilizing. Began experiencing panic attacks, chest pain, and higher anxiety (had never had panic attacks or chest pain from anxiety before in his life, so these were brand new as a result of the updose). Started taking hydroxyzine 25mg or 12.5mg regularly as needed to manage the heightened anxiety, and propranolol 10mg or 5mg very occasionally as needed to prevent/manage panic attacks Determined the citalopram had probably been pooping out before bumping up. Made a plan with psychiatrist to switch to fluoxetine in the short-term to get off the citalopram, and then eventually taper off the fluoxetine since he had gentler reactions to fluoxetine in the past when starting & stopping Plan was to make the switch in January 2024 - this was due to some planned life events that made it inconvenient to switch sooner, and because the poop-out symptoms seemed somewhat manageable in the short term Around November-December, the poop-out symptoms were worsening again and we determined he needed to make the switch sooner Psychiatrist was concerned about serotonin syndrome and did not want him to take fluoxetine and citalopram simultaneously. Instead they wanted him to do a clean switch, taking 10mg citalopram one day and then fully switching over to 10mg fluoxetine the next day (with 0 citalopram from that point on) Dec 21 - 25 2023: Began the "clean switch" Began feeling some moderate withdrawal symptoms after a couple of days By Dec 25 the withdrawal became severe, both physically and mentally. During a peak wave of uncontrollable shivers, headache, nausea, chest pain, insomnia, severe anxiety and depression we decided to reinstate 2mg citalopram. Within an hour of reinstating the worst of the physical symptoms had significantly lessened - especially the shivers, headache, and nausea. The anxiety and depression also lessened. Dec 26 2023 - present: Have been taking 2mg citalopram (1mg morning and 1mg nighttime), 10mg fluoxetine Taking 25mg or 12.5mg hydroxyzine as needed, generally totaling about 37.5-75mg daily depending on the day Also taking 0.125-0.5mg lorazepam occasionally as needed, not every day. Has been about a few days per week. From Dec 26-Jan 2, it seemed like things were improving. We starting tracking FINISH a few times a day and he was doing better than he had been at the peak waves before we reinstated the citalopram. But since January, most of the withdrawal symptoms have plateaued. The physical symptoms have improved a lot: headache and nausea are almost nonexistant now, and dizziness has steadied at a low-medium level. But ever since those lessened, he has been having more insomnia, and constant and severe anxiety daily, accompanied with chest pain and stomach pain, and occasionally a more severe bout of panic. This has also begun being accompanied with increasing depression, often at the same time as waves of panic or severe anxiety. The depression is increasing day by day from the despair and exhaustion from the prolonged physical and mental pain with no improvement on any of the withdrawal over the last two weeks. For the first time in his life, this has brought on questions of his will to keep on trying during his worst waves. He is running out of steam and feeling very scared and demoralized. Our immediate goal: We want to try to get him stable on 2mg citalopram in the short-to-medium term (from there, we will begin a very slow micro-taper from the citalopram, but for now we are just struggling to stabilize). This is complicated by the fact that the citalopram has been pooping out since Mar 2023, which may also be contributing to the plateau in any improvement on the withdrawal symptoms. We're trying to use strategies other than drugs as much as we can. We are both taking medical leave. We're being strict about our bedtime routine, eating extremely healthy with tons of fruits and veggies daily and little-to-no processed foods, getting out for two walks outside daily, meditating 1-2 times daily, doing yoga at home, avoiding stressful or over-stimulating activities. We are visiting his family until things improve, for extra help with care and morale. These things are making a difference, but even with them we are in the current state. We don't want to increase the citalopram any more, (a) because he seems to have a severe kindling effect from any dose changes to citalopram and (b) because it's pooping out so updosing may not do much to help anyways, even in the short-term He would like to increase his fluoxetine dose to 20mg to help stabilize, provide some relief on the sooner side for the anxiety and depression, and hopefully continue to help with some symptom relief when he eventually tapers off of citalopram. We know that he's had a gentler reaction to fluoxetine starting & stopping in the past, which we feel makes it an okay strategy for him to use as an intermediate step. We're also hoping increasing the fluoxetine can allow us to eliminate the lorazepam sooner - although he isn't taking it daily, we know it is highly habit-forming and would like to remove it before anything else. But in his current state, it's the only thing that has been able to get him through his worst waves. Our primary question-area for now (we'll probably have more later): We're trying to figure out how to updose the fluoxetine, assuming that we do. What we're considering: All-at-once updose to 20mg pros: get it over with; less time spent going through any updosing effects after getting past updosing effects, will get to any relief it provides sooner cons: could be very destabilizing updose very slowly, basically a micro-increase pros: likely less destabilizing if it ends up providing some therapeutic effect at a dose lower than 20, he could stop there at a lower dose cons: if there are still some negative effects to updosing, those would be drawn out over a long period of time likely will take longer to get a therapeutic effect from the drug to get relief from the citalopram withdrawal/poop-out. in the meantime, his anxiety and depression is already severe and worsening day by day rather than improving middle ground?? target 20mg, but updose over a few weeks by 0.5mg/day or similar pros: maybe still less destabilizing than the all at once updose? still get to some therapeutic effect sooner than the micro-increase version cons: could still end up being destabilizing, and then just prolong the destabilized period Questions: In your experience, does kindling tend to be specific per drug, or have you tended to find that when somebody develops a kindling reaction to one drug, they also begin to have kindling reactions to other psychiatric drugs including those that they haven't had severe reactions to in the past? We have read the reinstatement advice which says that increasing a dose after reinstatement should be extremely cautious and slow due to the likely kindling effect. But are there any general patterns or learnings around how best to increase dosage of a medicine in general, when not referring to a drug that you're already hypersensitive to? Any other advice on stabilizing for his particular situation?
  18. Hello everyone, I am new to this site, and hoping to get some advice from anyone who is experienced in tapering off fluoxetine. I have been on this for 2 years, 20mg the first year and 40mg the second year. My doctor advised me to change my doses daily from 40mg to 20mg on alternating days. Its been three weeks, and I have had huge amounts of anxiety return, I am super irritable, finding it hard to concentrate at work, and my dreams have been incredibly vivid, and have had loads of crying spells. I have heard of people advising to taper down by 10 percent a month to avoid withdrawal, and so looking for some advice from someone who might have experienced this first hand. Wondering if what I am experiencing right now is withdrawal or relapse. Thank you x
  19. Hi, Im 66 yrs old and I just know basic computer so this site is hard for me especially since im severely damaged from too fast a taper and not going slow taper so I know Im doing everything wrong. Please bear with me. I took 20mg Prozac for 26-27 years. Up to this point I was healthy and happy but wanted to get this drug out of my body. I cut the Prozac to 10mg starting Mar 2022 thru Aug 2022. finally stopped Aug 1st2022. During this time horrible insomnia and crazy energy but thought it would go away. Jan 2023 my already severe insomnia got worse averaging 14 hours each week, crazy energy, brain wouldnt shut off cant think, akathesia in body I dont have to pace all the time just some. In Mar 2023 I tried 20mg Prozac for 13 days but it made me more hyper so stopped. I also started getting many UTI's and took lots of antibiotics May 2023 I started getting severe anxiety(never had anxiety before) extreme severe depression, couple months ago started getting night terrors(never had this in my life) extreme suicidal ideation. Cant concentrate to read a book eyes dart back and forth. This is so unbearable day after day. Tiniest bit of stress sets me off. I know all the drugs that I tried were bad for me but I was desperate Ambian 7.5 and doubled dose took maybe 8 times only got 4 hours sleep and made depression worse so stopped. Belsomra 20mg put me to sleep 2 times but didnt work after that and caused depression tryed this about 5 times and stopped. Trazadone 300mg for sleep I got about 6 hours but caused worse depression so I stopped took this about 12 times. Klonopin .5 doubled dose Tried just about every supplement for sleep worked at first but stopped. Im hoping to please get support and looking for people who have taken the drug 25+ yrs and healing. Im fighting for my life
  20. SleepPls009 - Luvox Withdrawal, Insomnia, and Heart Problems (Oh my!) Hi All, It’s great to meet you! Though I wish it were under better circumstances. I’m looking for advice around Luvox reinstatement and doctors who deal with withdrawal; more information is at the bottom of the post. I thank you in advance for your help! I am seven months off of Luvox after having taken it for roughly 20 years. After years of experiencing persistent fatigue, muscle twitches, and some increasing insomnia, I decided to go off Luvox in March to see if that helped my symptoms. Go figure, it made everything ten times worse! I was on 200mg daily in winter ‘21, went down to 100mg without incident at the end of the year. Then in March ‘22 I began tapering little by little until I hit zero on April 12 (note: I was aware that stopping cold turkey was a bad idea, but I was unfamiliar with the concept of protracted withdrawal). Little by little I kept waking up earlier and earlier until I could barely sleep, and depression symptoms kicked in hard. My PCP started me on Prozac in mid-May to treat what she thought was underlying, emergent depression, and after a week I reacted so badly to it that I went to the hospital (couldn’t sleep for days, got a fever, upset stomach, shaking uncontrollably). I proceeded to try a number of different meds with my psychiatrist, but every antidepressant would either keep me awake for days, and every sleep med would lose effectiveness fairly quickly. I eventually got the idea that I might still be withdrawing from Luvox, so we decided to do a med washout to see what would happen. I survived on melatonin at the time, which was abnormally effective at low doses, and kept putting off going back on Luvox, somewhat out of stubbornness, since I felt it would be a “waste” to go back on after all that effort if I could make it to the other end of withdrawal. Eventually (about mid-late August), my brain flipped a switch, and the deep depression spontaneously went away. At the same time, my insomnia problem switched from staying asleep to falling asleep (kind of like what I occasionally had before stopping Luvox but much worse). That’s when medicine reactions became weird. I’d taken ambien before a number of times (roughly 10, 11 in total?) before August. I tended to avoid it because it made the depression a lot worse. I tried it again when the depression went away, and started having strange heart palpitations. One day after I took ambien, I went to the hospital for chest squeezing, but they found nothing. Thinking I was being paranoid, I tried it again a few weeks later and started to have what felt like a full-on heart attack. After working with a cardiologist for a number of months, it seems that ambien was causing vasospasm, or prinzmetal’s angina. A few other meds started causing this, too: Lunesta (I let a doctor convince me it was chemically different enough from ambien - dumb mistake), Quviviq (totally different mechanism than ambien, so confusing), and even melatonin causes odd heart palpitations now. The vasospasm itself seems to cause some sort of injury, because running (which I could do with ease before) brought on an episode, and after episodes I am weak and have chest pain for weeks. I am now at the point where I’m trying to decide what to do next. If my nervous system is still changing, I’m worried that it could further affect my heart or other systems if I let it continue to go unchecked. So this is what I’m wondering: Bottom line: I would love advice on whether I should reinstate Luvox. While I know this is a doctor’s realm, my current psychiatrist doesn’t understand (or acknowledge) protracted withdrawal. I will either need to take evidence and a concrete plan to him, or find a doctor who better understands these issues. As for the arguments for/against reinstating, I am now sleeping better, though not well (I still go about two nights without sleep a week and average 5-6 on a good night). But the crazy/dangerous reactions to meds give me pause. On one hand, I don’t want to cause more problems, and I’m almost worried that taking Luvox now would trigger another vasospasm. But if my nervous system is still rearranging itself I’m also worried that, left alone, it’s bizarre reactions to things could get worse! I would also like to get rid of the visual snow if at all possible. I’d also love recommendations for doctors who deal with or specialize in this sort of withdrawal and nervous system disregulation. I know they are few and far between, but I’m willing to travel pretty much anywhere at this point to get the help I need. Thank you all for your help, and I look forward to hearing back from you!
  21. Hello, Never would I have ever thought that I would be making a post here but my symptoms are too unbearable. I was prescribed Fluoxetine 20mgs for 2.5 months and Cold Turkeyed because I thought that it was too short for it to have any severe symptoms. As with many others, I was wrong. After 14 months I am still suffering from extreme tiredness and headaches which is debilitating to the point that I cannot concentrate on anything. From memory, I have taken Sudafed(for less than a week) which contains pseudoephedrine and while my symptoms did get worse, I took it around the 10 month mark and it should have healed by then. But now I believe that I have a sour taste intolerance. Last Monday I ate salmon with lemon sauce and in a few hours my entire body went haywire. I have done some research and I believe that eating sour food causes an increase in serotonin which might be why I reacted poorly. I had a big headache and also my left hand and left foot was trembling non stop and it felt like my central nervous system was going overdrive. The headache and tiredness is still prevalent to this day. Then I made a huge note of avoiding sour foods until today, I ate 4 pieces of blueberries which were unfortunately sour(possibly unripe) and the same blueberries that I had been eating for a long time, my body reacted worse than last Monday and now I have a massive headache and my body is trembling non stop(this will probably set back my healing journey for about a whole month). Also I would like to add that I took 1 pill of probiotics on the 13 months mark and I had a headache and extreme tiredness that lasted for a whole month. This is extremely disheartening since I was only on Fluoxetine for 2.5 months and off for 14 months and I am still experiencing an unstable cns and debilitating symptoms. Could anyone tell me what can I do now? I have very low hopes since it has been a very long time. Thank you for listening.
  22. Hi everyone! I've been looking at this website for a few months and finally decided to actually use it. I'm one various meds: fluoxetine 30mg, reboxetine 2.5mg, and xanax 0.25/0.5mg. I would like to at least cut down on the fluoxetine because of the sexual side effects. I've tried to do a few months ago by going down to 25mg (from 30), but after a month a felt litterally physically sick, weak, etc. So I got myself an oral syringe and from tomorrow morning I planning to take a 20mg tab + 7mg of home-made liquid = 27mg, a reduction of 10%. I will do so for a month and see how it goes. I will keep the reboxetine and xanax at present levels.
  23. Note: I had surgery recently so it is hard for me to type. So I am using voice to text on most of this. 30 year old male Motivation: I just do not like being dependent on the drug. Also, the wife and I are planning on trying to conceive soon and I don't think at least from my research that being an SSRI is helpful. I actually am curious if anyone knows whether or not there's any effect on the actual baby itself if the father's on medication I do see some research that suggests that it's harder to conceive but I'm not sure if it actually affects the outcome of the baby. I have started my taper as of this week with the guidance of my psychiatrist to get off 20 milligrams of fluoxetine which I've been on for about six years and nine years total for fluoxetine. The strategy she proposed was the following: week 1: one day of 10 milligram tablet 6 days of 20 milligram capsule Week 2: two days of 10 milligram tablets and five days of 20 milligram capsules week 3: three days of 10 milligram tablets and four days of 20 milligram capsules week 4: four days of 10 milligram tablets and three days of 20 milligram capsules week 5: 5 days of 10 milligram tablets and two days of 20 milligram capsules week 6: six days of 10 milligram tablets and one day of 20 milligram capsules week 7: only seven 10 milligram tablets I think this is better than most doctor's recommendations to be honest and for Prozac it might even work. However, the stories in here make me want to go ahead with the liquid solution and I think I was going to continue with 18 milligrams for a month and see how that goes because I had already started her regiment of week 1 and so that is very close to 10% anyway even if it's not as consistent. If anyone sees this I would appreciate any feedback on this approach. Thanks!
  24. I am searching for a Dr or NP that is familiar with Antidepressant Withdrawal Syndrome in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of TX. I discontinued Prozac in August of 2022. I forgot to bring my meds when i went out of state, and then my hubby also forgot them. I thought I was doing OK, and since I planned on starting TMS, I decided to not restart Fluoxetine. I had 2 suicide attempts about a month later, and was hospitalized. Various DR'S have started and stopped a myriad of drugs over the last year. I was finally given Fluoxetine after about 8 mos, but now it does not seem to be working.
  25. [50, male] Hi. I'm about to embark on a taper of the dreaded Cymbalta, which I have been on for almost 4 months-- 1 month of ramp up plus 3 months at 30mg. I'm quitting because its main effects have been lethargy, apathy, and demotivation. Some anxiety and sleep relief comes with that but it's not worth the zombification. This stuff scares me and I want nothing more to do with it. Starting about 6 weeks ago, my shrink added Wellbutrin 150mg which hasn't made much difference. About 6 years ago I went through this same process with a prior shrink (for the same complaint, anxiety)-- try Prozac, experience apathy/lethargy, add Wellbutrin. The Wellbutrin felt pretty amazing but ultimately was too speedy and I decided to quit everything. I agreed to Wellbutrin once again in hopes of a similar effect but this time no luck. I think the ugliness of Cymbalta just drowns everything else out. Unfortunately I don't recall the exact details of my prior Prozac/Wellbutrin taper but my best guess is that it lasted between 6 months and 1 year (I was aware of this site and the importance of slowness). There were no adverse effects during the taper. So my primary goal this go round is to taper Cymbalta. But I'm torn between wanting to taper safely/slowly vs reducing my overall exposure and getting back to my pre-zombie state as soon as possible. If I were to do 10% at 2 week steps I'd be looking at an 18 month taper from 30mg. This seems too long. Since I've only been on it 3-4 months, I'm hoping I can go a little faster than that. I'm thinking of trying 15% at 1.5 week steps which would take a total of 10 months. Along the way I may or may not pause to taper some piece of the Wellbutrin, depending on how it all goes. My question is whether or not my 10 month taper plan seems reasonable. Thanks for any input. Sonny
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